Among the many great American tennis stars, Nancy Richey was one of the best ever.
The now 82-year-old first played at a time when the sport wasn’t even professional.
Richey was one of the finest players of her generationGETTYWhen it did finally get that status, she dominated and etched her name into the history books.
If you take a look at the women’s singles French Open trophy and go back to the first ever name carved into it, you’ll find Richey.
She was the first to triumph at Roland Garros when the tournament became professional in 1968.
The Texan had a career that spanned two decades as she won 69 singles titles, with 19 of them coming in the Open Era.
It’s no surprise that when the French Open debuted, she stormed her way to victory after winning a record six consecutive US Clay Court Championships.
She was a player those who watched her describe as having a furious forehand, with opponents needing to be physically fit to face Richey as a result of her ability to force long and tiresome matches.
At 5-foot-3, Richey compensated for a lack of speed with her ability to dictate rallies with her whipped one-handed backhand and excellent all-court game.
During her career, she picked up two major singles titles — the 1968 French Open title and the 1967 Australian Championships.
Richey was also a neat doubles player, winning four major titles — the 1965 and 1996 US Championships and the 1996 Australian and Wimbledon Championships.
Although Richey’s most important tennis legacy might be her role as part of the ‘Original 9.’
Richey played tennis when it was both an amateur and a professional sportGETTY Richey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003GETTYThe female pros broke away from the governing body at the time — the International Lawn Tennis Federation — to form what we now know as the Women’s Tennis Association in 1970.
Even though women’s tennis was professional, prize money was significantly lower than that of the men’s tour.
“I didn’t have any idea we were going to get different prize money,” tennis icon Billie Jean King said in an interview for the PBS documentary American Masters.
King won the first Open Era Wimbledon Championships alongside Rod Laver, who earned £2000 in prize money to her £750.
“I thought it was totally unfair,” she added.
Along with Richey and King were seven of the other top women players on the tour: Peaches Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville, Kristy Pigeon, and Valerie Ziegenfuss.
The decision to separate from the establishment was extremely risky, as they faced bans from major events like Grand Slams.
But what followed was the establishment of an official women’s tour for tennis and the road to equal prize money at every Grand Slam.
In 1973, Richey’s breakaway tour was officially renamed as the WTA, and by 1974, the ILTF had given up trying to control women’s tennis.
In that same year, the US Open offered equal prize money.
By the 1980s, more major events had joined the tour as the tour became globalised with tournaments happening across Asia, South America and Europe.
In 1984, prize money exceeded $10 million and a new TV deal was signed, hugely increasing revenue.
By 1990, stars like Steffi Graf, who completed the Calendar-Year Golden Slam, winning all four majors and an Olympic Gold, boosted the visibility of the WTA.
Serena Williams picked up the baton from the Original 9GettyDuring the 2000s, the other Grand Slams joined the US Open in offering equal prize money, with the Australian Open doing so in 2001 while Wimbledon and the French Open did so in 2007.
Fast forward to 2025, the WTA is a multi-billion-dollar commercial powerhouse and is 55 years strong.
It has a global calendar and has committed to equal prize money across the WTA 1000 and 500 tournaments by 2027.
And it all started with nine brave women.
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